Expanding Their Horizons

From aiding in the tsunami recovery effort in Sri Lanka to conducting research with professors on campus, this summer was action-packed for Tufts students who undertook a variety of projects across the world and in their own backyards.

After finals last spring, life began to slow down for some Tufts students, who packed their bags and headed home for the summer. But the pace picked up for a crop of undergraduate and graduate students who, through a variety of Tufts-sponsored summer programs, conducted research, led community service projects and worked for nonprofit organizations nearby Tufts and around the world.

Junior Jordan Maril stuck close to campus this summer, researching sustainable agriculture through Tufts' Summer Scholars program, which afforded 50 students an opportunity to conduct funded research in conjunction with a faculty member from one of Tufts' three campuses. Other students tackled projects involving the integrity of scientific research and the intersection of philosophy and healthcare.

Beyond campus, students participating in the Tisch Active Citizenship Summer Fellows program—an initiative sponsored by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service—worked on more than two dozen projects that engaged students in communities both local and international. Junior Ashley Pandya tutored school children in India, while graduate student Bobbie Peyton worked to enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety in Somerville.

Two dozen students got non-profit work experience during their break through Tufts' new Career Services internship grant program, which provided stipends to 25 students who accepted unpaid internships for the summer. Funded by a portion of the investment returns from the Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance fund, which was established last fall with Tufts graduates Pierre and Pam Omidyar's historic $100 million gift to the University, the program enabled students to intern for public service and nonprofit organizations as wide-ranging as the Infant Parenting Program Center at the University of Oklahoma and the Vietnamese American Civics Association in Boston.

What follows are closer looks at some of this summer's projects. The campus may be quieter in the summer, but as these programs show, Tufts students never slow down.